1,861 research outputs found
Wall interference assessment and corrections
Wind tunnel wall interference assessment and correction (WIAC) concepts, applications, and typical results are discussed in terms of several nonlinear transonic codes and one panel method code developed for and being implemented at NASA-Langley. Contrasts between 2-D and 3-D transonic testing factors which affect WIAC procedures are illustrated using airfoil data from the 0.3 m Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel and Pathfinder 1 data from the National Transonic Facility. Initial results from the 3-D WIAC codes are encouraging; research on and implementation of WIAC concepts continue
Investigating Effective Methods for Aggregating, Organizing, Storing, Managing, and Disseminating Community Resilience Data
Currently there is no comprehensive source of community resilience data. Geographic data is collected by multiple agents and stored using different schemas. In most cases the schemas that store the data do not relate them to concepts of community resilience, or the disasters the data could be associated with. So this begs the question, how can decentralized geographic data be leveraged to facilitate data-driven decision-making about community disaster resilience? This question was answered by completing three related objectives. First a data aggregation was performed, second a schema was created to organize data with respect to components of disaster resilience, and third a data system called WISCkey was developed for storing, managing, and disseminating data over the web.
A data aggregation was performed for two case studies and was developed specifically for the variety of data related to disaster recovery. Subsequently, a schema was developed to organize aggregated data based on attributes of resilience and aggregation outcomes. Technical infrastructure was selected and configured to store, manage and disseminate the organized data.
The result of this research is a web-based application called WISCkey. WISCkey was built using MongoDB, Python, and Bottle and organizes aggregated data. It was developed to store, mange, disseminate, and provide the means to centralize a variety of resilience data. Ultimately these completed objectives permit applying community resilience theory to facilitate data-driven decision-making, and research, in a user friendly way
Child relationships in the middle grades
Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit
Block of NMDA receptor channels by endogenous neurosteroids: implications for the agonist induced conformational states of the channel vestibule
N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) mediate synaptic plasticity, and their dysfunction is implicated in multiple brain disorders. NMDARs can be allosterically modulated by numerous compounds, including endogenous neurosteroid pregnanolone sulfate. Here, we identify the molecular basis of the use-dependent and voltage-independent inhibitory effect of neurosteroids on NMDAR responses. The site of action is located at the extracellular vestibule of the receptor's ion channel pore and is accessible after receptor activation. Mutations in the extracellular vestibule in the SYTANLAAF motif disrupt the inhibitory effect of negatively charged steroids. In contrast, positively charged steroids inhibit mutated NMDAR responses in a voltage-dependent manner. These results, in combination with molecular modeling, characterize structure details of the open configuration of the NMDAR channel. Our results provide a unique opportunity for the development of new therapeutic neurosteroid-based ligands to treat diseases associated with dysfunction of the glutamate system
What Is an Act of Engagement? Between the Social, Collegial and Institutional Protocols
Engagement is not synonymous with commitment, even though both words are used in translations between English, French, and German. However, engagement is also not some supplementary phenomenon or a technical term that the phrase social acts already includes in itself or that the concepts of ‘commitment’ or ‘joint commitment’ somehow necessarily imply. In this article I would like to describe a special kind of social act and determine the function they have in relation between various agents. Most importantly, I would like to define their significance in the transformation of a group into an institution or higher order entity. My premise is that there are acts whose aim is to engage all others, since they refer to all of us together, and in so doing reduce negative (social) “acts” as well as various asocial behaviors within a group or institution. In this sense, engaged acts could alternatively also belong to a kind of institutional act, since they introduce certain adjustments to the institution, changing or modifying its rules, increasing its consistency and efficiency.First book series in Philosophy of the Social Sciences that specifically focuses on Philosophy of Sociality and Social Ontology.
Studies in the Philosophy of Sociality
Volume 1
Neuroinflammation and structural injury of the fetal ovine brain following intra-amniotic Candida albicans exposure.
BackgroundIntra-amniotic Candida albicans (C. Albicans) infection is associated with preterm birth and high morbidity and mortality rates. Survivors are prone to adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. The mechanisms leading to these adverse neonatal brain outcomes remain largely unknown. To better understand the mechanisms underlying C. albicans-induced fetal brain injury, we studied immunological responses and structural changes of the fetal brain in a well-established translational ovine model of intra-amniotic C. albicans infection. In addition, we tested whether these potential adverse outcomes of the fetal brain were improved in utero by antifungal treatment with fluconazole.MethodsPregnant ewes received an intra-amniotic injection of 10(7) colony-forming units C. albicans or saline (controls) at 3 or 5 days before preterm delivery at 0.8 of gestation (term ~ 150 days). Fetal intra-amniotic/intra-peritoneal injections of fluconazole or saline (controls) were administered 2 days after C. albicans exposure. Post mortem analyses for fungal burden, peripheral immune activation, neuroinflammation, and white matter/neuronal injury were performed to determine the effects of intra-amniotic C. albicans and fluconazole treatment.ResultsIntra-amniotic exposure to C. albicans caused a severe systemic inflammatory response, illustrated by a robust increase of plasma interleukin-6 concentrations. Cerebrospinal fluid cultures were positive for C. albicans in the majority of the 3-day C. albicans-exposed animals whereas no positive cultures were present in the 5-day C. albicans-exposed and fluconazole-treated animals. Although C. albicans was not detected in the brain parenchyma, a neuroinflammatory response in the hippocampus and white matter was seen which was characterized by increased microglial and astrocyte activation. These neuroinflammatory changes were accompanied by structural white matter injury. Intra-amniotic fluconazole reduced fetal mortality but did not attenuate neuroinflammation and white matter injury.ConclusionsIntra-amniotic C. albicans exposure provoked acute systemic and neuroinflammatory responses with concomitant white matter injury. Fluconazole treatment prevented systemic inflammation without attenuating cerebral inflammation and injury
Monocytes regulate the mechanism of T-cell death by inducing Fas-mediated apoptosis during bacterial infection.
Monocytes and T-cells are critical to the host response to acute bacterial infection but monocytes are primarily viewed as amplifying the inflammatory signal. The mechanisms of cell death regulating T-cell numbers at sites of infection are incompletely characterized. T-cell death in cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) showed 'classic' features of apoptosis following exposure to pneumococci. Conversely, purified CD3(+) T-cells cultured with pneumococci demonstrated necrosis with membrane permeabilization. The death of purified CD3(+) T-cells was not inhibited by necrostatin, but required the bacterial toxin pneumolysin. Apoptosis of CD3(+) T-cells in PBMC cultures required 'classical' CD14(+) monocytes, which enhanced T-cell activation. CD3(+) T-cell death was enhanced in HIV-seropositive individuals. Monocyte-mediated CD3(+) T-cell apoptotic death was Fas-dependent both in vitro and in vivo. In the early stages of the T-cell dependent host response to pneumococci reduced Fas ligand mediated T-cell apoptosis was associated with decreased bacterial clearance in the lung and increased bacteremia. In summary monocytes converted pathogen-associated necrosis into Fas-dependent apoptosis and regulated levels of activated T-cells at sites of acute bacterial infection. These changes were associated with enhanced bacterial clearance in the lung and reduced levels of invasive pneumococcal disease
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